With my daughter’s high school graduation, and our trip to Toronto kicking off our busy Summer, I seem to be short on words of wisdom lately!  Even still, I am thankful that this site is available when I am ready to share my rambling thoughts and hopefully have a few readers join me.

This site is so much more than just a “blog.”  It helps me leave behind a legacy for my children.

I have handwritten journals I started when they were babies.  One in particular – for my oldest daughter – was started when I found out I was pregnant!  I was so excited and started writing words of love to her before she ever came into this world.  These are actually in a fire proof safe for them when they are older and will appreciate what they will one day hold in their hands.

This site also allows for my words to remain out here in cyber space for them to reflect back on.  These days they seem not to care too much about Mommy’s blog.  Maybe at some point later, they will.

A few years back, poems that I used to write were taken and put into a book format by my friend, Greg.  What a sweet keepsake my girls will have to hopefully also treasure and hold dear to their heart.

In the grand scheme of things, these are just little things they will possess long after I’m gone that will speak to their hearts when I’m not here on this earth any longer to do so.  The thought of what I just wrote brings tears that sting my eyes, and I blink back the tears, fighting them the entire way.

Oh, how I wish we could all live forever.

It breaks my heart completely to think that one day my children will be forced to go on without me by their side.  I have raised them and instilled morals and values into them the best way I know how.  I have shared God and my faith with them, and they have asked Jesus into their hearts.  We have the reassurance that one day if we are forced to be apart for a little while, we will be reunited in Heaven.  Even still, I pray God allows me to have so many more years with my children laughing, loving, holding, and making memories with them.

I have been blessed to live as long as I have as some do not get this opportunity and aren’t as fortunate.  Yet, I’m selfish and want more time.  I pray God allows it.  My grandmother lived well into her 80s.  She was in good health until the last two years of her life when she had surgery and things went downhill with her health.  I pray that I will be healthy and active well into my 80s also!

Have you put aside little keepsakes for your family?  If you haven’t, you could start today with your own version of a sweet memory that you will leave them with, something tangible to hold in their hands.

With those words, I am reminded of what my grandmother did prior to her death.  She knew death was near at one point, so she left a card behind.  This card was discovered a few days after her funeral when her daughter began going through her things.  Can you imagine the impact of this simple little sympathy card?  To find a sympathy card that your MOTHER wrote to you … oh, there are no words to express the flood of emotions that came over my father when his sister shared the card with him.  He closed his eyes, shook his head, and sat there motionless for a long time with tears escaping under his closed eyelids.  My grandmother expressed her deepest sympathy to her children for their broken hearts after losing her, and in closing, she expressed as much as she possibly could in words the love that she carried for her family all of her 80+ years.  Tears are now finding their way out of my eyes and onto my cheeks despite tilting my head back and blinking to avoid them spilling out.

If you take anything away from this post today, just remember that the love of family is so very important.  Make those memories.  Spend time with the ones that mean the world to you.  There may come a day when you will not have them with you any longer.  It will hurt your heart, and you will long for them … just one more phone conversation, one more visit … one more hug, one more chance to say, “I love you.”

The people in your lives matter, and you matter to them.  Take no one for granted.  Treasure and cherish, love and hold dear to your heart while you still can.  And then when your time on Earth is through, they will have beautiful moments to reflect back on as they reminisce about time spent with you.

Leave an incredible and inspirational legacy of love for your family.